Soviet delegate to the Conference of Lausanne was shot dead by former Russian White officer and émigré Maurice Conradi in the Cecil Hotel. Two other members of the Soviet mission were wounded when they attempted to resist. Conradi then handed his gun to a waiter and asked him to call the police, which they did.
Conradi was born to Swiss parents in 1896. They were living in St. Petersburg at the time, where they ran a candy factory. Most of Conradi's family were killed during the Russian Revolution, with several being executed by the Bolsheviks. During this period he married his wife, Vladislava Lvovna Svartsevich, and he immigrated to Switzerland following the defeat of Wrangel's army.
Conradi and his confederate Arkady Polunin were tried that following November and defended themselves on moral grounds, introducing evidence of Communist horrors. The prosecution fell into this, oddly enough, and introduced evidence of the happiness of Soviet citizens, something that would have had to have involved an element of delusion. The jury found that all the elements of murder were present, but failed to convict him 5 to 4 anyhow, leading to a rupture in diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the Soviet Union.
In 1925 the Conradi's moved to Paris. They divorced in 1929. Conradi then joined the French Foreign Legion, returning to Switzerland and remarrying in 1942. He died in 1947. Polunin went to Paris as well and died under mysterious circumstances in 1933.
Of the Soviet survivors, one, was executed in Stalin's purges in 1938. The other was killed in 1942 while serving in the Red Army.
About as much as can be said of this entire episode is that it was downright bizarre.
